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Capital One's 'The Match 6': Do Brady, Rodgers or Mahomes, Allen Have Edge?
June 1, 2022
Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are four of the top quarterbacks in the NFL today. They each consistently play at an elite level, and that's why they're all part of successful teams.
Brady and Rodgers have been doing it for most of the past two decades. Brady is a seven-time Super Bowl champion and continues to put up big numbers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rodgers is a Super Bowl winner and is the Green Bay Packers' steady leader on offense.
Mahomes and Allen are two 26-year-olds who have quickly become top-tier NFL QBs. Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl title at the end of the 2019 season, while Allen has played an instrumental role in the Buffalo Bills' recent success.
But none of that is going to really matter on Wednesday.
That's because these four quarterbacks aren't going to be facing off in a football competition. They're instead taking part in the latest edition of Capital One's The Match, a charity golf event that features high-profile athletes. It's happening at Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas, and this will be the first of the six iterations of The Match to not feature any professional golfers.
Brady and Rodgers, the older guys, are pairing up to take on Mahomes and Allen. They're competing in a 12-hole matchplay format in which teammates will play the same ball on each hole.
Any NFL matchup featuring two of these quarterbacks could go either way, especially because football is a team sport. Golf is different. So, which of these pairs has the edge heading into The Match?
Brady and Rodgers have more football experience, and they have more history with this event, too. Brady has partnered with golf legend Phil Mickelson in two previous editions of The Match, although they lost both times. Meanwhile, Rodgers is 1-0 in The Match series, having teamed up with current PGA Tour golfer Bryson DeChambeau to defeat Brady and Mickelson last July at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana.
Luke Kerr-Dineen of Golf.com recently did a breakdown of the golf swings of each of these four quarterbacks, and he wrote that he'd "most prefer" Rodgers' swing.
"He still has a weaker left hand grip, where he can only see about one of his knuckles, but he makes it work because his hands are ahead of the ball at impact, which helps him hit little trap cuts," Kerr-Dineen wrote.
However, Kerr-Dineen noted that Mahomes has the "most powerful move." That could be valuable on a par-70 course, especially if they can execute in the short game.
If you ask Rodgers, though, it's not even going to be close. He believes the matchup is "the two best guys against the two worst guys."
"Tommy's played a ton of Pebble Beach events, he's played The Match a number of times. I've played in Pebble and Tahoe," Rodgers said, per The Athletic's Greg Auman. "We've got a decided advantage."
It could be a bit closer than Rodgers believes, but he is right in that he and Brady appear to have the edge for this matchup. But any of the four could have a bad day on the greens, so anything could happen.
Mahomes and Allen aren't exactly golf newbies, either. They're regular participants in the American Century Championship, an annual charity event held at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada. They've likely been practicing for Wednesday, and they're two highly skilled athletes.
No matter who wins, we know this: It's going to be fun and entertaining to watch as these four bring trash talk to the golf course while being mic'd up for the whole thing.